Book SummarySix-Minute X-Ray, by Chase Hughes

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Six-Minute X-Ray

In Six-Minute X-Ray, Chase Hughes argues that you can read anyone in just a few minutes based on their behavior, speech, and mannerisms. His Six-Minute X-Ray (SMX) system is a comprehensive set of techniques for rapid behavior profiling, developed based on Hughes’s military intelligence work and 10 years of research. It allows you to rapidly gain deep insight into who someone really is, based on their behavior, speech, and mannerisms—information you can use to build rapport with and influence others in your...

Six-Minute X-Ray Summary Establishing a Behavior Profile

According to Hughes, a behavior profile is an inventory of information about someone based on your observations of them: It gives you an understanding of their motivations, goals, and tendencies. You can use this understanding to quickly build rapport with them and, if desired, influence their behavior and decisions.

To form a behavior profile, Hughes explains, you’ll identify someone’s social needs and decision-making style based on their speech and behavior within the first six minutes of interacting with them. In the next sections, we’ll explain how to rapidly ascertain these two key attributes.

(Shortform note: Six minutes may not sound like enough time to form a profile, but experts suggest that we often make judgments about people in less time than that, due to the first impression bias: an unconscious tendency to form opinions about others based on the first things we perceive about them. This often happens in one minute or less. However, because these judgments are unconscious, they’re often rooted in prejudices or other factors that can skew our opinions. On the other hand,...

Six-Minute X-Ray Summary Eliciting Important Information

As we’ve seen, a behavior profile (based on the person’s apparent social needs and decision-making style) can be an invaluable tool in understanding, relating to, and influencing someone. However, there may be times when you need even more information from someone—which they may not be eager to share. In these cases, Hughes explains, you’ll have to do some strategic prompting.

According to Hughes, the key to prompting others to share information is to make them feel like they’ve offered it willingly. You’ll get more information if your conversation feels natural than if it feels like an interrogation. Additionally, information-sharing tends to compound: The more information you obtain, the more of a connection the other person will feel with you, and the more that person will continue to open up.

Why People Share More If They Feel They’re Doing It Willingly

The reason people will share more if they feel they’re doing so willingly may relate to the psychological concept of the self-determination theory. This theory posits that people have a basic need for autonomy, or feeling in...

Six-Minute X-Ray Summary Reading Into Behaviors and Speech

So far we’ve seen how you can observe someone’s behavior and mannerisms to develop a profile of their behavior, and how you can use certain techniques to draw information from them that they may not otherwise share. In this section, we’ll look at how you can read someone’s behavior and speech to detect stress—and potentially, signs of deception.

Physical Indicators: Detecting Stress

Despite popular belief, it’s impossible to tell when someone’s lying based on their behavior and body language. However, Hughes explains, people tend to feel very stressed when they’re lying—so monitoring someone’s behavior for signs of stress can help you determine whether they may be lying.

(Shortform note: Not everyone displays signs of stress when lying. Some people with psychopathy show lower levels of stress when engaging in activities like lying, manipulation, and committing crimes. This can make it harder to tell if they’re being deceptive, and Hughes’s techniques may not apply as well to such individuals.)

Before we get into the signs, Hughes warns that the most important part of monitoring these signs...

Shortform Exercise: Practice Establishing a Behavior Profile

Use Hughes’s techniques to establish a behavior profile of someone you know. This exercise is practice for eventually establishing behavior profiles of people you’ve just met.

Think of someone you know well—a family member, friend, or close colleague. Based on their observable behavior, what are their two primary social needs? (For example, do they show off expensive accessories, indicating a need to feel important? Do they often complain about bad things that happen to them, indicating a need to be pitied?)